08-13-2012, 05:12 PM
One more point about the nose tackles. Stephens was not as good as Fua, in my opinion, but he and David Parry were more than good enough to get the job done, obviously. And he'll forever get credit for the SC forced fumbles--in all seriousness, up there with Tavita for SC heroes for me.
I don't think people realized then, and we certainly don't realize now, what a hairy situation we were in at nose tackle last year. Stephens was a guy who had maybe underachieved at bit, and his primary back-up was an unknown walk-on. Beyond that, the only nose tackles were converted ends, or true freshmen. That we had no injuries at that position rescued us from what could've been a very uncomfortable situation (due to some recruiting problems. This is why you always recruit a pipeline. If there's an area Harbaugh struggled with, it was pipelines.)
I don't think people realized then, and we certainly don't realize now, what a hairy situation we were in at nose tackle last year. Stephens was a guy who had maybe underachieved at bit, and his primary back-up was an unknown walk-on. Beyond that, the only nose tackles were converted ends, or true freshmen. That we had no injuries at that position rescued us from what could've been a very uncomfortable situation (due to some recruiting problems. This is why you always recruit a pipeline. If there's an area Harbaugh struggled with, it was pipelines.)